


The HatBox Ghost

by Werecakes



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Disney World & Disneyland, Goofy and Donald Duck are better than Micky Mouse, M/M, Multi, The HatBox Ghost, ghost story, some things do not have an explanation, suggestions on how to continue are welcome, this is kind of a short story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-28
Updated: 2014-04-28
Packaged: 2018-01-21 03:04:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1535171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Werecakes/pseuds/Werecakes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kili, Frerin, and Fili have saved up to go to Disneyland. It was a well earned vacation, but there is only one attraction Frerin wanted to go and see The Haunted Mansion. </p><p>While everything seemed to go fine Kili is not pleased when he thinks his lovers are trying to prank him, only to have something terrible happen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The HatBox Ghost

"Why do we have to be here?" Kili grumbled as he held an umbrella over his head, not just his own but two blond ones as well. It wasn't raining but the umbrella provided welcomed relief from the hot sun that pounded down upon them as they waited in line.

"You don't have-oof!" Frerin got elbowed in the stomach by one of his two boyfriends.

"Stop that. And you too," Fili positioned his tiny motorized fan to the back of his sweaty neck. His golden hair was tied up in a mass of braids and a loose bun which got a lot of women to look at his long neck and a few phone numbers that he threw away. "We're here because you," he pointed with his free hand to Kili. "Always wanted to go to Disneyland. Frerin fucking put the plan into motion for all of us to pitch in and get to this damn place- god it's hot!!"

"I know why we're at Disneyland, it's hard to miss that fact!" Kili grabbed the water bottle right out of Frerin's hands and proceeded to squirt some luke warm water onto his head. The heat was killing them all. It seemed only Frerin wasn't effected then again the bastard was raised in a place that hit over 110F during the summer and 20F below zero during the winter. Extreme weather didn't bother him at all. He was barely fucking sweating while Kili and his brother were dying.

"I meant why here?! I rather just crawl into the coolers of an ice cream parlor."

"We're here because it's the only place Frerin wanted to visit!" Fili grabbed the water bottle and took a long drink. "So you're going to shut up and we're going on this ride."

"Yeah but, why the Haunted Mansion?"

Frerin took up the water bottle and took pity on the two. "Lift your arms." When they did what they were told he sloshed water into their arm pits and the backs of their necks. The key, heat spots helped cool them down a little especially when a small breeze picked up.

"You didn't answer my question. Why here?"

Frerin didn't say anything as they moved up the line. 

"Seriously-"

"Like I said, you can go if you don't want to come. I'm okay with it." Frerin fiddled with the bottle cap to their mostly empty bottle of water.

"Not happenin'." Both brothers said at the same time. It caused Frerin to smile.

"Fine, if you must know. It's the only real point of interest for me besides taking pictures with Donald and Goofy." He saw a Mickey Mouse walk by and glared at him. He had a personal hatred for the mouse. He could thank Thorin for that. The bastard.

"Why so interesting?"

"It's called 'The Haunted Mansion', how could it -not- be interesting?" Frerin looked genuinely insulted. 

"Because we know you better. So what's the real reason?"

"No time to talk," Frerin bit his lip in that way that said his mind was racing. He was expecting something to happen, something exciting and he was going to enjoy every moment of it. It was that look that got Fili interested in him in the first place. It was that very look that drew Kili's attention when Fili had his boyfriend at family functions. 

Kili leaned over, whispering into Fili's ear. "I wish he wouldn't do that in public. Makes it really -hard- to be around him."

"Deep breaths, and don't look at his face because he'll do that cute little-" He raised a hand and bit his knuckles, turning around and walking backwards as they entered the building. Frerin was doing his little excited hop, that cute smile, and wore that overly innocent expression that just made the brothers want to shove him down and debauch him thoroughly.

 

Kili closed his umbrella, thankful for the air conditioner as well as the dimmed lights so he wouldn't have to look at Frerin any more. The fucking bastard.

It was a grand old building, designed to look like an old plantation house. Tall with columns, a catwalk a level above them was open with white iron railing lined with different characters dressed up in "scary" costumes, things that were creepy but would not terrify a child. It wasn't anything spectacular, it wasn't anything even special. But something here had pulled Frerin's attention to it, so he would leave it be and go with the flow.

That was until a strange figure caught his attention. It stood about chest height, dusty grays and a ratty, aged blue. A cane in one hand with a large lantern looking object in another. It was strange because it was rather grizzly compared to all the other things around it. 

Shrugging it off he went along with Fili and Frerin onto the ride, simply going through the short distance of spiders and witches that popped out of no where. He reveled at the way that Frerin relaxed and would grab his arm when something scared him. 

The ride turned the corner and he saw that odd character once again. This time the head was not under the top hat, only a void of darkness there and the face was in the lantern... or was it a hat box for the top hat?

 

He saw it a few more times, here and there, finding it redundant but still it was the best attraction out of this whole ride. Finally it came to an end and they shuffled out. Soon as they got out into the sun he pulled on the string of his umbrella to grip the handle to pop it open, only to pull up a strange box.

"What the hell?"

"What?" Fili looked to his brother seeing the round box. "Where did you get that?"

"No idea... I think I just got pranked by one of the workers. Took my umbrella while I wasn't looking and slipped this around my wrist. Probably a last scare after putting up that weird hat box ghost guy up all over the place, just to make people jump."

"Hat box ghost?" Fili frowned, tilting his head.

"1969 or so this attraction had a Hatbox Ghost character. It didn't work right on the ride and one day it disappeared along with its molds and spare characters before the official ride opened." Frerin eyed the box.

"...." Kili put the box down and calmly walked away. He wasn't going to deal with this. He knew Frerin enjoyed the stranger things of life, things that couldn't be easily answered, but he wasn't going to fall into some joint prank by the blonds.

 

The two caught up with him, he did make a show to make sure they did not pick up the box. Frerin looked like he wanted to talk about it but that was not something Kili was willing to allow just yet. He was hot, he was cranky, he didn't like pranks, and he was done with today especially after another man fucking came up to Frerin to openly flirt with him and Kili had to run him off. 

They went to one of the many restaurants, had dinner, and things started to calm down. It was noisy and filled with life, much like a mall's food court. It was a familiar atmosphere that allowed him to relax in. He felt a brush of toes across his shin. He smiled and looked across the table to Fili who... was just returning from getting ice tea. There had been only an empty seat. 

Frerin was not at an angle to do that... so... swallowing he cautiously looked under the table. 

Nothing.

"You okay?" Fili put a glass of iced tea in front of Kili.

"Yeah!" He answered too quickly. He cleared his throat. "Yeah, uh, thanks for the tea."

Fili leaned over, whispering into his ear. "Are you sure you're okay? You've been kind of out of it since the box thing happened."

"I'm fine."

"I called the attraction manager for you, said that one of his workers are pulling pranks on people." Fili stated as he took his seat.

"You mean you tore into him and had been glared at by parents as they covered their children's ears." Frerin smirked.

"We can handle this but a lot of people are much more sensitive." Kili concluded, not willing to admit that it made him very uncomfortable and that Fili had chewed out an attraction manager for just him.

"Amytiville Toaster, makes breakfast spooky." Frerin mumbled.

"Spooky eat me toast, yum yum yum human hand." Fili and Kili snickered together. 

"The shit that you watch man." Kili laughed.

Frerin pushed his potatoes around with his fork. "Foamy the Squirrel is my spirit animal."

"That explains a lot."

The rest of the day went well, they went back to their hotel room and watched some television. Eventually they all fell asleep to the lulls of old Disney films.

 

It was in the middle of the night that Kili felt someone gently take hold of his socked foot. He grumbled and kicked out, rolling to the side and burying his face into soft long hair. His foot was grabbed again, gently shook.

He flopped an arm over a body and squeezed, pulling his legs up. From the feel of the one he was holding and the smell it was Fili.

"Frerin." He whined. "Leave me alone."

He was nearly asleep once more when a sharp slap hit his leg. He quickly sat up, causing the bed to bounce from the movement. 

"Frerin!"

"Mmf.. mmm, what?" 

Kili felt his throat constrict. He slowly looked over, on the other side of Fili was Frerin, rolling onto his side to look up at Kili sleepily.

"You... This isn't funny."

"What isn't funny?"

"Great joke, you got me, have your laugh and be done with it."

"What are you talking about?" Frerin sat up, their conversation and movement now waking Fili.

"The two of you made up the hatbox ghost thing, did whatever you had to do to get the Halloween anomatronic into the attraction then slipped the hatbox into my hand. You even messed with me at the table at dinner, now you're fucking with me in bed. Haha, well done."

The two blonds looked at each other thoroughly confused. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about- you know what- fuck this." Kili got up. His toes hit something in the dark. It was heavy and it hurt causing him to hiss and swear like a sailor as he hopped on one foot.

Frerin turned on the side lamp. "You okay?"

"What do you fucking think?! And what the fuck did I..." 

The room fell silent, only the whisper of old movies coming from the tv that was still on.

There, sitting in the middle of the floor was the old hatbox.

"Okay, this is going to far!"

Frerin was already slipping off of the bed, pulling Fili along with him. "Kili, darling. I promise you we are not pranking you and I really think that you should be over here with us... now."

Kili looked over at them, Frerin was pushing Fili behind him. He only did that when he was genuinely scared. He had a hand held out towards Kili. He flicked his fingers in a beckoning motion.

There was a heart beat's moment before Kili leaped over the bed. He grabbed Frerin's hand and all three ran out into the well lit hallway of the hotel. They rushed down to the lobby where they clustered together.

"What the hell, is that?" Kili looked at Frerin.

"I don't know-I-"

"You know more about this shit than either of us!"

"Reading ghost stories is one thing but living one is an other!" Frerin hissed under his breath.

"Far as I can tell, it seems to be targeting you, or trying to get your attention." Fili interjected. 

"Why me?!"

"Who the fuck knows!"

Frerin held up his hands. "Okay! Deep breaths, all of us. We need to think."

Kili took several before he leaned over and ran both hands through his hair. "Okay... okay... Ooookay... so... what do you know about this thing?"

"I already told you everything I know. It was made, then not. Simply blinked out of existence. It was featured in small books and such as a drawing..." He scratched at his head, a nervous reaction that made Fili reach up and stop him from doing so as he would scratch his scalp raw. "There was a children's book that I remember seeing a small scan of it. It was written in the point of view of someone trying to escape the mansion and was stopped from leaving the attic by the hatbox ghost who's head would disappear from his shoulders and reappear in the hatbox he held."

"Then what the hell would it want? It's not real, never was, and anything ghost related had to have some horrible thing happen around it."

Fili rubbed at his eyes, they suddenly felt dryer. "This is Disneyland, anything bad would be covered up in seconds... so we'll never know."

Kili looked at his brother. "Then what do you suggest we do?"

"See what it wants."

"That's a double edged sword you're playing with," Frerin warned. 

"And what else do we do?"

"Leave." Kili said. "We get a refund for the rest of the nights we booked and just leave."

They all shared a look and decided it was the best course of action. 

They waited until morning, when they went up to their room to find it empty of the box. They packed their things and talked to the front desk, letting Frerin pull off his best dumb blond routine and kicked puppy dog face that got them a refund higher than usually allowed. In the car they went and off towards home.

It was a couple of days of driving and it was worth it when they saw their little house. Their belongings would be brought in after a rest, all three so tired that it was hard to keep their eyes open. Kili juggled his keys, pressing his forehead against the door as he blindly jabbed it at the knob until the key stuck. He turned it.

Pushing open the door he stumbled in, followed closely by his lovers. He reached over, hand trying to find the light switch. He frowned. This wasn't right.

"You need help with that?" Frerin yawned with his pack over his shoulder. The pack he never went anywhere without. He moved over, his palm padding along the wall. That was odd... the switch wasn't there, but there was a round numb. It reminded him of very old light switches... He took hold of it and turned it. A dim light flooding the area. 

A large chandelier hung over head, gently swaying. 

"What... the fuck..." Fili gaped. The Haunted Mansion... "Why are we here?!"

Frerin looked to the door, hand slapping against a solid wall. "No... no, no."

"What just-what the fuck is going on?!" Kili instinctively grabbed hold of Fili's arm.

"I don't know!... I..." Frerin looked around, the windows dark with rain beating against them. He swallowed as he properly slung his backpack on. "Stay close."

The place was huge, much bigger than the attraction, but it was... it had to be the ride back in Disneyland. The carpets were red, the walls a chestnut brown with framed paintings. The rooms were huge and open, a fireplace in each one. All lit, fully furnished with antique furniture, not a speck of dust to be seen, not a cobweb in a corner.

They eventually found some stairs. There was an old man standing at the top of the stairs, talking with someone else. The old man was dressed well with a wet cloak and top hat. He shook his cane at the other man. They were yelling.

Frerin swallowed as the young man grabbed the cane. He struck the old man so hard that his head snapped to the side. His body teetered. It seemed slow as the body fell backwards, tossing from step to step in a jumble of limbs and cloth. 

"Holy shit." Kili covered his mouth soon at it was said.

"Who's there?!"

"Move, move!" Frerin pushed Fili and Kili forcing them into a run.

They raced down a hallway, trying desperately to find a window they could reach or a door that would lead outside. Finally they found a window, Frerin struggled to get it open. Fili had to help him work it open enough for the thinnest of the three to fit through. 

Kili scrapped his back and belly, his shirt and pants ripping at the jagged edges of the worn wood of the window frame. Splinters stuck into his skin as he tried his best to get out. There would be no way for Frerin or Fili to get out that way.

"Show yourself!!" There was heavy banging sounds that were coming down the hallway towards them. 

Frerin let go of the window, the weight of it was unreal as it crushed down on Kili's hips, Fili barely keeping it open enough to not break his brother's bones. The older blond grabbed Kili's shoes and pushed as hard as he could, throwing him out. Kili tumbled forward, his head and back slamming against carpet forcing him into a roll. He coughed and groaned when he finally stopped rolling. His back, stomach, and hips hurt so badly.

He sat himself up looking around.

Home... How did he get home?

In front of him sat the hatbox.

"Fili! Frerin?!" He winced as he got up to his feet. "Fili!! FRERIN!!"

No reply, only the quiet of an empty house. 

He grabbed handfuls of his hair, his mind whirling. What was going on? Where were they?! Was he hallucinating? Was his mind sick?

He kicked the hatbox, the top popping off sending pieces of torn paper scattering. Old paper, yellowed and faded. Slowly, he picked up some of the pieces, looking at them. Writing scrawled across that of Fili and Frerin's hand.

-Help-

-Can't hide for much longer-

-He hears us-

-please, help-

-Frerin's hurt-

Kili's hands fluttered over the papers, grabbing at them as he looked from one to another. Some notes were written on lined paper, like the stuff that Frerin kept in his pack. Others were pages from books written in thick charcoal. 

He rocked on his knees. He was insane... he had to be. He had to be going mad...

If he wasn't... then how could he help them?


End file.
